Part One: Mimetic Desire, The Lord Warden Summary and Analysis

Mimetic Desire: The theory of mimetic desire states that as humans, we are innately drawn to people and objects that are loved by others. For Judt, this explains his love of trains. He claims that he has always loved trains and that trains have always love him back: "Love, it seems to me, is that condition in which one is most contentedly oneself. If this sounds paradoxical, remember Rilke's admonition: love consists in leaving the loved one space to be themselves while providing the security within which that self may flourish" (Page 66). Growing up, Judt felt uncomfortable around most people and would invent excursions to explain his time away from his family and friends: excuses, essentially, to be in solitude with the trains. Judt was particularly interested in the...